The Bury Hydraulic Group is responsible for the ongoing preservation of four former BR diesel-hydraulic locomotives on the East Lancashire Railway. However, despite being far from the Western Region where they plied their trade for British Rail, these locomotives are in capable hands, as Andy Coward found out when he returned to his home town to meet Jonny Stevenson, from the BHG.
Walking into Castlecroft Yard on the East Lancashire Railway brings back so many memories for me. As a youngster, this is the preserved railway where I first started volunteering more than 35 years ago, making many friends along the way – some of whom I’m still in regular contact with now. It’s also thanks to the ELR that I first gained an enthusiasm for railways which has never gone away, even though I haven’t been an active volunteer on the line for well over a decade now. Brought up just three miles down the road, returning to the ELR feels almost like I’m going home.
One of my first jobs there was assisting some of the other young volunteers working on the Bury Hydraulic Group’s Class 14 D9531. The job was simply to give the paintwork a bit of clean – not a difficult job, but just about sufficient for the skill set of an inexperienced 14-year-old, as I was at the time – and I’ve never forgotten that first memory of volunteering.
I’m back on the ELR to meet up with Jonny Stevenson, from the BHG, to talk about the group’s fleet of four preserved diesel-hydraulics – one of each for the full set – and to find out a bit more about the BHG and its workload in 2023.
Waiting to greet me in the small three-road shed at Castlecroft are Class 35 Hymek D7076, Class 42 Warship D832 Onslaught and Class 52 Western D1041 Western Prince, all looking fantastic painted in BR blue. There’s something special about the design of the former Western Region diesel-hydraulics to me – they have a stylish appearance which leaves a powerful impression that few other modern traction designs can match.
The only member of the BHG fleet missing from the line-up is the aforementioned D9531, but Jonny explains that the Class 14 has proven to be the ever-reliable workhorse of the BHG fleet and it is regularly used by the ELR
